Training for fighting in WMD contaminated areas

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The U.S. army has Intensified the training of fighting in a zone infected by chemical agents .

With a wary eye cast toward a variety of shaky, rogue or unpredictable states such as Syria, North Korea, Pakistan and others that have some form of nuclear or chemical weapons capacity, the Army is again preparing for a future in which its soldiers will be forced to fight through chemical, biological or nuclear attacks, or at least operate in a battle space that has that capability.

That’s where this year’s annual Unified Quest 2013 war game at the Army War College here comes in. The classified scenario that Army planners have devised this year focuses on a failed state that has lost control of its Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) stockpiles, forcing the United States to intervene. The location of the game is classified, but the presence of members of 8th Army based in South Korea may provide some clues as to what region the Army is concerned about.

The centrality of the Army in the WMD mission comes from an obvious place: as the nation’s ground force, it will be soldiers who will have to drive their Strykers up to the gates of any potential chemical or nuclear weapons site, and therefore they need the expertise to be able to assess the situation and dispose of any hazardous materials.

Illustration Pictures with courtesy of IDF’s spokesman unit